Part Two
Chapter Nine
Hermione's eyes snapped open. She had dreamed about the black again. Plus, she had dreamed about Ron being dragged away again, and she hadn't had that dream since July. She looked around wildly for a moment, not knowing where she was. Then she felt Ron's arms tighten around her, and heard him calling her name.
"Hermione! Hey, wake up!"
"What?" She tried to sit up, but Ron held her back. "I- sorry. Was I talking in my sleep?" She realized that her forehead was sweaty and hastily wiped it off.
Ron looked down at her with concern. "You were pretty quiet, but you were squirming an awful lot, like you were trying to see something." He wiped away a tear (where did that come from? Hermione thought) off her cheek and turned her to face him. "You were whispering something by the end. I don't know what it was you said, but it sounded pretty much like 'no' and 'please'."
Hermione shuddered. That sounded familiar all right. Why did she have to have that damned dream all the time?
"What did you dream about?" Ron asked.
Hermione winced. "I don't know," she replied. "I mean- I know what I saw and everything, but I can't figure out exactly what it was." She shuddered. "Everything was black, Ron. I couldn't see anything, or hear anything or anything."
Ron stroked her hair comfortingly. "It's OK," he whispered. "It's just a dream. Hey, you're shaking."
"It's not just a dream," Hermione whispered. "I don't know, Ron, it was real, I know it was." She shivered involuntarily. "It has something to do with Harry."
He pulled away from her. "Harry? You're sure?"
She squeezed her eyes shut. "No, I'm not sure," she said, almost snappishly. Ron looked hurt and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh my God, Ron. I don't know what's going on with me. I've been having weird dreams for so long. I'm going insane."
Ron took her face in his hands and made her look at him. "What do you mean?" he asked. "How long has this been going on?"
Hermione let out a ragged breath. "I don't know. I was dreaming about the dance every night for most of last spring and summer. It was so horrible, Ron. I couldn't get it out of my head. I was afraid to fall asleep." She longed to tell him the part about watching him be dragged away, but couldn't bring herself to do so. "What's happening to me?" she whispered.
Ron's eyes were very bright as he looked at her. "Hermione," he whispered in a tortured voice. His eyes seared her face, as if looking for the cause of her pain, and finding nothing. He finally looked her in the eye again, then drew her close and kissed her softly.
Hermione trembled in Ron's arms as he held her, his mouth against hers. He was so gentle, and she could feel his love for her, tingling and unfolding through her body in a comforting manner. He pulled away and looked at her, then stood up and helped her to her feet.
"We should get back up to our rooms before people start coming down," he said quietly. "It'll be time for breakfast soon. We have to just pretend nothing happened…"
She smiled then, slightly, in anticipation of what the next few days would bring. She had been waiting to hear Ron say that he loved her for so long. But she knew that now was not the time to go walking around holding hands and the like. He led her to the foot of her stairs and hugged her.
"I'll see you at breakfast," he whispered to her, then let her go and walked up his own stairs to the boys' dorm. Hermione hugged her chest, cold all of a sudden. She longed to tell Ron she loved him. "Ron," she called after him.
He turned at the top stair. "Yes?"
She took a deep breath. "I-" But her voice caught in her throat. "Good night, Ron," she finally whispered, then turned and ran up the remaining stairs to her dorm and fell into bed.
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